Falling behind...

Well we are in Prague... and the last blog post I gave you was... Rome/Cortona. The places we've been in between:

• Florence
• Cinque Terre
• Verona
• Venice
• Vienna

Now do you REALLY want me to try to catch up on that?!? I could give you a quick overview, but that's what I did on the last post about Rome/Cortona! And I'm starting to get too lazy to add pictures, but the posts really are much nicer when there are pictures. Oh my. I've been pretty good at keeping pictures up to date (somewhat) on Facebook, but to sit down and write about everything seems like so much work. On the contrast, I've been journalling regularly...

Okay fine. A quick overview. Just because I like to share our adventures. I'll even post a picture of each :)

• Florence - The whole renting a car bit was a good idea until we reached Florence. Then it proved to be a pain. We were so happy to be rid of the crazy thing. Highlight of Florence - shopping way more than we should have. Mom bought a leather jacket, we both bought shoes, presents, etc.
• Cinque Terre - Round two for me. Equally as stunning the second time around. We lucked out with a gorgeous day, and basked in the sunshine as much as possible. One thing I noticed is that as we are much closer to tourist season, a lot more shops have opened up. Despite this, we went to the same restaurant that I had gone to the last time, and ate the same dish that I ate the last time - penne with crab flesh! Amazing and delish! Finished off the day wading in the Mediterranean Sea in Monterosso.
• Verona - Finally a new city for me. Not that I don't enjoy all parts of Italy, but it was nice to have a chance to explore somewhere new. Here we saw the Verona Arena, Juliet's House and Balcony, and the Castle Bridge. Beautiful, beautiful city. Ate out in a cute, classy little restaurant tucked away in a side street called "La Groccia".
• Venice - Last stop in Italy! Turns out our hostel was a much longer walk away from the train station than we anticipated, and we were exhausted by the time we arrived. Not so much fun to walk with those big packs after all the shopping we did in Florence! Venice was as charming as always, but it was nice to see it slightly quieter than it was during Carnevale. Here we took the water bus to tour the grand canal, and saw NB (A friend and Cortona Alumni) relaxing on the side of the canal! Small world! We also started getting creative with our less-expensive meals, and bought all kinds of ingredients for a salad. Lettuce, peppers, zucchini, ham, mozzarella cheese, and a mediterranean dressing... very yummy!
• Vienna - Pictures aren't up from this one yet, so you won't get a preview on here. Sorry! To get to Vienna we had to take a three hour intercity bus from Venice to Villach - right across the border into Austria. We got to sit at the very front on the upper level of a double decker bus! Cool!! After the bus ride it was another 5 hours by train to Vienna. Long, long day of travel. The first full day in Vienna we bought concert tickets to a show in the hall where Mozart performed at the young age of six. It was an incredible concert - Mom said she almost teared up it was so beautiful. There were three violinists, one cellist, one pianist, one opera singer, and two ballerina's. So worth it. We also toured the State Opera House, which was really cool as well. Afterwards we went out to eat a typical Austrian meal at a restaurant recommended to us by the receptionist at the hostel. It was a small, intimate setting with live music and amazing food at reasonable prices. Perfect way to end a perfect evening. Day two in Vienna - we toured the Schoenbrunn Palace and Gardens. I thoroughly enjoyed learning about some of the history of the Hofburg Dynasty. And palaces are just plain cool. Afterwards we toured the MozartHaus - one of the apartments where Mozart lived during his stay in Vienna. Also the apartment he was living in when he wrote "The Marriage of Figaro". Not as cool as I'd expected, but still fun to visit. In the evening we bought standing room tickets for the Opera "Elektra". Standing room is exactly that... standing... for the entire performance. And we were silly enough to wear dress shoes. Silly girls. Regardless, it was a worthwhile experience.

Now lets all cross our fingers that it doesn't take me so long to post about Prague. Which, by the way, we've fallen in love with already. It is beautiful!!